Approximately 10th of all McLaren cars sold in the world were picked up by Middle East buyers with the GCC accounting for a lion’s share of the sales, a McLaren official has said.

Andreas Bareis, managing director of McLaren Automotive Middle East and Africa, also said sales in the GCC area remained at a level similar to 2014 with no significant increases or decreases in volumes.

McLaren, the British manufacturer of luxury, high-performance sports cars, delivered 1,650 cars in 2015. The company is located at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey.

Giving a regional roundup, Bareis said: “In terms of sales volumes, the UAE is the strongest market, where we have retailers in Dubai and Abu Dhabi responsible for selling more cars than any other retailers in the region. The second-largest country regarding sales volumes was Saudi Arabia, from our two McLaren retailers in Jeddah and Riyadh.”

The highest selling McLaren model in the GCC during 2015 was the 650S from the company’s super series, part of its three-tier offering worldwide: sports, super and ultimate.

Launched in 2014, it was crowned ‘Best Supercar’ at the Middle East Car of the Year Awards 2014 – a title McLaren held for three consecutive years, following in the footsteps of the 12C (2012) and 12C Spider (2013). The 650S was not eligible for entry in the 2015 awards.

During 2015, the region saw the final deliveries of the McLaren P1, and sales of the Sports Series commenced during the latter part of the year with a strong order bank as the year came to an end.

Deliveries of the 570S Coupe will commence in the region shortly, said Bareis.

The official said much work had been done in the region to boost growth and that it was seeking opportunities for further advancement. “McLaren Automotive have a strong network of nine retailers across six countries in the Middle East and Africa and a service centre in Beirut; however we do seek opportunities to grow our network in the region with the increased appeal that the McLaren brand has achieved over the last five years and the introduction of the Sports Series making us accessible to a broader range of customers. We will be looking at appointing new retailer partners during 2016,” Bareis said.

McLaren Automotive has partnered with world leading companies to provide specialist expertise and technology including, AkzoNobel, ExxonMobil, Pirelli and SAP.

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